


Try

by hoverboarddinosaur



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Compliant, Character Death, F/F, Manga Spoilers, Reincarnation, losely based on "Us" by Regina Spektor, sort of?????
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-21
Updated: 2018-03-21
Packaged: 2019-04-06 05:43:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14050173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoverboarddinosaur/pseuds/hoverboarddinosaur
Summary: -MANGA SPOILERS BELOW-Annie dies in 867 of Ymir's Curse, Mikasa dies in 914 of old age. Annie is reincarnated in 2004, Mikasa is reborn in 2005. New technology lets Titan-shifter Annie live to 26 rather than 13, Mikasa's adopted brothers are blessed but limited by the same technology. Annie is a photographer, Mikasa is an entomologist.Annie remembers their past lives, Mikasa doesn't.in 2030, months before Annie's pre-set death date, they recognize each other by their eyes by a statue of themselves in Germany. Mikasa begins searching for a cure for Annie, and Annie begins trying to expose her both to new experiences and to remind her of what happened in their earlier lives. Mikasa wants Annie to fight for her life, but Annie has accepted her fate. Annie wishes Mikasa would let her live and then let her go. Mikasa wishes Annie would try.





	Try

The breathing on Mikasa's shoulders and neck was cold and irregular, to the point that Mikasa couldn't ignore it. She tried to focus on Annie's face, its slowly-blinking eyes and blue lips, but she could see her lips quivering with dying breaths. It only made the urge to cry stronger.

"Are you sure there's nothing we can do?" Mikasa asked, whipping her head around to look at Armin. Her voice was high-pitched and breaking but she didn't have the time to care.

"She's too weak for me to try and dillute the serum with water. We could try to induce crystallization," Armin said, back turned to Mikasa as he looked through his notebook. She knew he was crying, she heard it in his voice. "But she'd die as soon as it was broken and temporarily wake up to a world without anyone she knows. It's... it's best to let her die. I'm so sorry, Mikasa..."

Mikasa stared at Armin in horror, before she heard a hoarse, hissing whisper of "Mi...ka.....sa...." She turned to look at Annie, whose eyes were now slightly more opened to show her icy-grey irises, and her blue lips were parted.

"Annie, what is it? How are you feeling?" She pulled the hospital blanket up to Annie's shoulders, leaning towards her lover.

A weak sigh came from Annie's lips and Mikasa's heart jumped as she squeezed her eyes shut. She needed to see those eyes, those gorgeous eyes had kept her going for so long. Luckily, she opened them. "Mikasa, please stop asking that. I'm going to die, I won't get better. But thank you... thank your for letting me... live a good life, for letting me be a good person. I love you--"

"I love you too, Annie. So, _so_ much." Mikasa squeazed her shoulder and let out a small sob. 

"Thank you," Annie said. Her lips were folded, tears were welling in her eyes but Mikasa's heart ached as she realized Annie didn't have the energy to cry. The dying girl took a sudden, sharp breath, turning Mikasa's stomach. "Goodbye, Mikasa."

Mikasa watched as Annie's eyelids slid shut, and her head turned on the pillow, limp. Horrified, Mikasa shook her shoulders. "Annie? Annie, don't give up. Annie, wake up! I love you! I can save you! I'll save you! I promise, I'll save you! I'll save you! I'll save you! I'll save you!"

Those words were repeated over and over, as Mikasa shook Annie's body and sobbed and screamed. It was just like Eren's death-- she was so desperate, clinging to any hope, and yet her arms felt so oddly cold and numb, as did the rest of this bleak hospital. But she couldn't stop repeating those words, and to her, they didn't lose their meaning. She was going to save Annie. There were no other options. 

Finally, Mikasa felt the cold in Annie's shoulders spread to her finger tips. She stopped moving entirely, then her arms started shaking, and then her whole body and life collapsed onto Annie's chest.

Mikasa sobbed into Annie. The absence of a heartbeat made her cry harder. She heard Armin leaving the room but could not find a space to care in the cacophony of her mind. Annie was gone, the world was colorless. But she could not be gone. And yet she was. But that was impossible. Which was it?

"I don't care," Mikasa wailed aloud to answer her question. "If you're gone, I'll bring you back. I'm going to save you, Annie. I promise."


End file.
